New MOSWOZ assessment framework for marine spatial planning

Assessment in advance

Schouten explains that the assessment framework is a tool for assessing the risks of plans and measures in advance in a structured way. ‘This could be a plan to build a wind farm or a gas platform, or to farm shellfish, for example.’ Baetens adds that assessments as such are not new. ‘But with the assessment framework, we can now support a particular assessment more clearly.’

Follow-up measures

The assessment framework therefore matters for shipping safety before a plan is carried out. After that, measures are needed at the operational level. Examples of these measures are Vessel Traffic Monitoring (VTMon), which allows unusual vessel behaviour to be detected quickly, and the deployment of emergency response towing vessels (ERTVs) when a ship gets into trouble.

Three spatial planning themes

The framework is built around three spatial planning themes. The first theme is freedom of navigation. Do ships have enough space and possible routes? The second theme is predictable space and infrastructure. Is the environment at sea easy to navigate and understand? The third theme is spatial and physical forgivingness. In the event of an incident, are ships quickly in danger or is the risk limited? For example, are there cables, pipelines or wind turbines nearby?

Building a picture of the safety risk

For each theme, an assessment is made as to how serious the consequences of an undesirable situation would be, such as a collision or a fire on board. Two key questions are answered: how likely is it that the undesirable situation will occur, and how severe are the consequences if it does? Together, these give a picture of the safety risk.

Tested using cases

The assessment framework allows the MOSWOZ team to compare different cases. ‘Suppose you do or do not build a wind farm in a particular location: how big is the difference in shipping safety in that area?’ Baetens explains. ‘We tested the assessment framework for the North Sea Programme 2028–2033, which is currently being developed.’

Schouten: ‘We compared six cases, each with its own combination of wind farm sites. When comparing some of the cases, we found a difference in risks to shipping. Seafarers confirmed this outcome in subsequent expert sessions. The results of the assessment framework turned out to match their practical experience well. That gives us confidence that the framework shows relevant differences between cases.’

A solid foundation

Schouten would like to develop the assessment framework further. ‘This assessment framework gives us a structured method for showing how spatial planning choices affect shipping safety. At the same time, a complete assessment of shipping safety should ideally also take other factors into account, such as human behaviour, technical failures and weather conditions.’ Baetens adds: ‘No matter how safely the maritime environment is designed, there will always be risks.’